Today’s case takes us to San Diego, California where we take a look at the brutal case of Mark Anthony “Gator” Rogowski. Shout out to Tina Cooke for recommending this case.
Born August 10, 1966, Mark Anthony “Gator” Rogowski is an American former professional skateboarder who was convicted of murder. He was prominent in the 1980s and early 1990s. His career was cut short when he pled guilty for assaulting, raping, and murdering Jessica Bergsten in 1991.
Rogowski was born in Brooklyn, New York, but he moved to Escondido, California, at the age of three following his parents’ divorce. A gifted athlete, he played little league baseball in his youth. He started to skateboard at age seven and, while most of his friends were into surfing, he eventually started to hang out at skate parks several years later. In 1978 after 2 years of skating at local parks, he was picked up by a local skate team at only 12 years of age.
He began his professional skateboarding career in 1980 at age 14. In 1982, he won his first major contest, the Canadian Amateur Skateboarding Championships in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1984, he won a national championship. He received endorsement deals from Gullwing Trucks and G&S early in his career. He was the first skateboarder to receive his own ‘pro-deck’ by Vision Sports, and his pro-deck proved popular and was soon followed by the Mark Gonzales and Tom Groholski models.
Rogowski was soon featured on the cover of Thrasher magazine for the first time in June 1984 and he would go on to be featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboarding in October 1985. He was featured on the covers of both magazines again in July & October 1987 as well.
At the height of his fame, he was being paid “between $4,000 and $8,000 a month” for clothing and skateboarding equipment endorsements. By 1987, Rogowski was earning two dollars per skate deck from Vision, which was selling 7,000 decks on a monthly basis, resulting in royalties totaling $14,000 about $36,000 in today’s money. Additionally, Vision was also selling T-shirts, berets, hip packs, and stickers using the “Gator” name.
Rogowski was one of a group of elite skaters who enjoyed significant fame in the 1980s, alongside Christian Hosoi, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, and Steve Caballero. He was a charismatic, flamboyant personality who came during skateboarding’s return to popularity following the success of vert skateboarding.
In 1986 Rogowski was detained by police in Virginia Beach, VA after assaulting an officer in the parking lot of Mount Trashmore Park during the East Coast Assault pro contest. At a 1987 skate show in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S., Rogowski was introduced to Brandi McClain and her good friend Jessica Bergsten, an aspiring model. Soon afterward, he began a tumultuous long-term relationship with McClain—they appeared together in numerous advertisements and promotional videos for Vision, which had become one of the top-selling skateboarding brands of the 1980s.
In late 1988 Rogowski was featured on the “Swatch Impact Tour” of 35 tour dates across the United States, which also showcased fellow pro-skaters Jeff Phillips, Kevin Staab, Chris Miller & Joe Johnson. In 1989 Rogowski also worked as a stunt double on the 1989 film Gleaming the Cube, which starred Christian Slater, and appeared, along with McClain, in the music video for Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty.
As ‘vert skating’, popular in the 1980s, was supplanted by street skateboarding in the 1990s Rogowski’s popularity declined. Vision, the company he was with for the majority of his career, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. For re-invention, Rogowski changed his name to “Gator” Mark Anthony, explaining that “Rogowski” was the name of the father he never knew.
After a severe accident in West Germany, where Rogowski either fell or was pushed from a hotel window and landed on a fence, he returned home to Carlsbad to recover. After befriending Augie Constantino, an ex-surfer turned born-again Christian who also became his “spiritual advisor”, Rogowski converted to a strict Evangelical form of Christianity, influencing his attitude and skateboard deck designs. After four years of dating McClain, Rogowski suggested the couple marry, proclaiming they “can’t have sex anymore unless we get married.”
The sudden lifestyle change contributed to the end of McClain’s relationship with Rogowski, along with his occasional bouts of violence (which included his locking her in a closet) and unprovoked jealousy, and she returned to her parents’ home in San Diego, California. Rogowski began a period of severe alcoholism following McClain’s departure.
Following the end of his relationship with McClain, Rogowski was jealous. He entered her home to steal gifts he had given her, he made threatening telephone calls to McClain’s new boyfriend, and he also threatened McClain directly. McClain informed police about Rogowski’s behavior. They filed a report, but the situation was not monitored continuously.
On March 20, 1991, Rogowski talked with 22-year-old Bergsten for the first time in years. Bergsten asked Rogowski to show her around San Diego. They spent a day together on March 21, 1991; shortly after, Bergsten was reported missing. According to Rogowski, he and Bergsten went back to his condo to watch movies, smoke weed, and drink wine. He admitted to coming up behind her and hitting her in the head with a Club (a metal auto anti-theft device).
After knocking her semi-unconscious by way of several strikes, he handcuffed her and dragged her to his bedroom on the second floor and raped her while she was shackled to his bed. Afterward, he placed her in a surfboard bag because he was concerned about the neighbors hearing the noise. Rogowski placed his hand over Bergsten’s mouth until she stopped breathing, then drove the body to the Shell Canyon desert, then disposed of the corpse in a shallow grave.
Bergsten’s body was found by campers on April 10, 1991, but it was so decomposed, it could not be identified. Plagued by guilt, Rogowski informed Constantino: “Remember that girl from the poster? She was the one I killed.” Constantino encouraged Rogowski to confess his crime to the police, which he subsequently did.
Rogowski turned himself in on April 11, 1991, and led police to the grave of Bergsten’s body. Police searched his home and found evidence of blood soaked through the carpet padding and into the floorboards in two small spots, adjacent to where Bergsten’s head allegedly rested. In his confession, Rogowski conveyed that he had killed Bergsten in a misplaced act of revenge toward McClain, calling Bergsten the “mold Brandi was made out of.” Entering prison, Rogowski was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Rogowski was charged with “special circumstances”, committing a murder during rape. Under California law, this warrants the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. His lawyer, John Jimenez, challenged the validity and content of the confession. Jimenez appealed the rape charge, insisting the decomposed body showed no signs of forcible rape, but the appeal was eventually dismissed.
Following the advice of his attorney, Rogowski pled guilty to first-degree murder and rape, thus avoiding the death penalty or life without the chance of parole. In January 1992, at the plea hearing, Gator submitted a four-page written statement. He accepted responsibility for his acts, accepted responsibility for sexual activities outside of marriage, for his promiscuity, and for not following the word of the Bible.
Rogowski was sentenced on March 6, 1992. Five uniformed bailiffs with metal detectors were at the hearing due to a rumor Stephen Bergsten (the father of the victim) would attempt to harm Rogowski. Bergsten lost two properties due to his involvement with a nationwide drug ring, and he allegedly had nothing to lose by harming Rogowski. With the bailiffs standing between Rogowski and Bergsten, Rogowski offered an apology while Bergsten shouted back that he “was a coward” who would “die a thousand deaths”.
Rogowski received a 31-year-to-life prison sentence: six years for forcible rape and 25 years to life for the first-degree murder charges to be served consecutively.
Rogowski was denied parole on February 7, 2011. Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs argued that Rogowski remains an “unreasonable risk to society” and should remain imprisoned, while a family member of Bergsten also attended the hearing and requested Rogowski remain incarcerated. On February 6, 2015, another parole hearing was scheduled, but Rogowski waived his right to a hearing for one year. On March 9, 2016, he was again denied parole for seven years.
On December 10, 2019, multiple media reports indicated that Rogowski’s parole board recommended parole. The California Board of Parole Hearings finalized the decision, and the case went before the California governor’s staff for review. On April 27, 2020, Rogowski’s parole grant was reversed by Governor Gavin Newsom, stating Rogowski needed to gain a “deeper understanding” of his crimes.
In June 2022, a San Diego County Parole Board granted Rogowski parole with his attorney citing “the parole board’s ‘trained psychologist found him to be a low risk of danger to the public.’” This was to be followed by a 120-day review period by the board, and then up to 30 days for the Governor to make a final decision.
District Attorney Summer Stephan asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to deny parole for Mark “Gator” Rogowski after the parole board panel found him suitable for release.
In a statement, Stephan said family and friends of 22-year-old Jessica Bergsten “deserve the continued promise of justice in this case.”
“Our office argued strongly against releasing this violent defendant,” she said.
Rogowski’s attorney, Laura Sheppard, said in a statement that her client is remorseful and “devastated by the impact of his crime.”
“My position, of course, is that there is no current evidence that Mark remains dangerous,” Sheppard said. “In fact, I think the Governor should be proud of the success the California prison system has had in rehabilitating Mark.”
She added that the system “succeeded, and Mark’s good behavior in prison, sincere remorse, and track record of making amends are proof that it works.”
Governor Gavin Newsom again reversed the parole board’s decision, ensuring Rogowski would continue to serve his sentence.
Rogowski has another parole hearing scheduled for December 2024.
As of November 2023, Rogowski is incarcerated at Donovan State Prison.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rogowski
https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/rogowski-mark.htm
Missing Person of the Week:
This week’s missing person case focuses on Tawana Jean Igo. Tawana was born April 10, 1978. She was 44 when she went missing and is 45 now.
Tawana was last seen November 23, 2022, in Micco, Florida, near 8300 Woods Trail. She abruptly stopped going to places she frequented and has not been in contact with friends of family.
Tawana is 5’2”-5’4” tall, and 100-110 pounds. She has shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. She has two moles above her upper lip, and visible needle marks on both arms. It is unknown what she was last seen wearing.
Although Tawana is homeless and has a history of drug use, she is known to be habitual in her contact with loved ones, as well as with spending time in the area. An acquaintance of Tawana reportedly saw her at a Walmart store in Sebastian, Florida in November 2022. She was with a man who had blond hair and a beard, but seemed to appear anxious, unlike her normal outgoing personality. She also had a bruise on her face or head.
While there are rumors of possible foul play, nothing has been substantiated and no further sightings have been reported. She may still be in the Florida area and living among the homeless population.
If you have any information about Tawana Igo, please contact the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office at 321-633-8419, using case number 2023-00198517. And as always, you can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously.
Murderosity 
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